Faculty Fellows
The Center for World Performance Studies provides summer funding to individual faculty members to pursue research projects which involve traveling to various sites for field work, both domestically and internationally. We encourage inventive ideas, especially those that involve thematic support for CWPS mission, including ethnography and performance as research. Fellows are invited to share their research with the CWPS community through our Faculty Lecture Series and as mentors to graduate students in the Certificate in World Performance Studies.
Applications to the Faculty Fellows Program are due March 10, 2025.
Apply for a CWPS Faculty Fellowship
CWPS Faculty Fellowships 2025-2026
DEADLINE: Monday, March 10, 2025
Grant awards of $6,000 are available to individual faculty members to pursue research projects that can be carried out “in place,” domestically, or internationally within guidelines of University travel restrictions. Allowable expenses include, but are not limited to: archival research expenses, online seminars, lessons, conference fees, equipment directly related to the completion of research (including creation of new performative work), stipends for creative collaborators, research assistants, audio/video production, accommodations and travel.
Successful proposals should align with the CWPS mission statement, demonstrate long-term scholarly impact, enhance the learning outcomes and experiences of U-M students and engage with communities. Funds may be requested for pilot projects or to supplement existing projects, however, priority will be given to applicants who have not previously received CWPS summer research funds. Previous faculty awardees should wait for a period of two years before re-applying.
Recipients of Faculty Fellowship funding awards will be asked to fulfill the following expectations during the 2024-2025 academic year:
- Present their research as part of the CWPS Faculty Lecture series;
- Provide a synopsis of research for CWPS website;
- Attend CWPS networking events when possible, such as the CWPS Fellowship Luncheon, guest artist receptions and performances;
- Become a CWPS Faculty Affiliate.
HOW TO APPLY
Proposals should include: (1) Center for World Performance Studies Faculty Fellowship Online Application Form; (2) an explanatory statement no longer than 1,000 words; (3) a current CV for the principal organizer no longer than 3 pages; and (4) a budget detailing anticipated costs and all sources of support (pending and confirmed).
Please direct inquiries to: [email protected]
Proposals are due by Monday, March 10, 2025 and recipients will be notified by Friday, April 7. Awards are to be used during the summer of 2025.
2025-2026 Faculty Fellows
Raja Benz
Lecturer in Musical Theatre, Theatre & Drama

Professor Benz’s will explore the intersections of consent-based performance, dramaturgy, and intimacy coordination, with a focus on themes of fascism, sexuality, and global theatre practices. The project includes international collaboration at the IFTR conference in Germany, domestic conference participation, and student-faculty engagement through workshops and course development. Benz will further their research through site visits, archival work, and performance observations, contributing to a forthcoming book, Queering Intimacy: Performing Identity and Culture.
Shavonne Coleman
Assistant Professor of Theatre & Drama

Professor Coleman seeks to recover and amplify the overlooked contributions of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color artists within the history of Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA). Through archival research, oral histories, and community engagement in cities like New York, Charlotte, and Cleveland, Coleman aims to document how BIPOC artists have shaped the field and how institutions currently engage diverse communities. The findings will inform a new university course and contribute to a digital archive, presentations, and student mentorship.
antonio c. cuyler
Professor of Music

Professor Cuyler will lead University of Michigan students in a residency at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, as part of We Were Fridays, a multidisciplinary performance inspired by Gullah Geechee culture. Through immersive study alongside students and faculty from partner institutions, participants will explore how the Gullah Geechee people have preserved their unique cultural heritage through artistic traditions such as quilting, folk tales, and Ring Shouts. The residency will include reflections on how this heritage can inform solutions to contemporary challenges, culminating in a student-devised performance at the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County.
Jungah Han
Assistant Professor of Theatre & Drama

Professor Han will investigate how traditional Korean performance forms—such as dance, music, and Changgeuk—are integrated into contemporary stage productions by the National Dance Company of Korea and the National Changgeuk Company of Korea. Building on a pilot U-M study abroad program she developed, Han will study the creative and collaborative processes behind these performances, focusing on how traditional elements like Pansori and Gugak are blended with modern technologies in set design, lighting, and production. Her research will inform her set design curriculum at the University of Michigan, fostering cross-cultural engagement and providing students with deeper insight into non-Western performance practices.
Jake Hooker
Program Head: Residential College Drama

Professor Hooker will initiate the first research phase of a multi-modal project documenting the history of theatre in Detroit, culminating in a book titled Will It Rise From the Ashes? Detroit’s Theatre Scenes, 1913 to the Present. The project will include an online archive and a live performance event, celebrating Detroit’s theatre legacy and engaging the community. The research combines archival work, oral histories, and ethnography to recover underrecognized stories—especially those from Detroit’s Black theatre scene—and trace the evolution of theatrical expression through industrial, civil rights, and post-bankruptcy eras.
Christianne Myers
Claribel Baird Halstead Collegiate Professor of Theatre & Drama

Professor Myers will pursue a three-week residency at Papermoon Puppet Theatre in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, as part of her Winter 2026 sabbatical research into global shadow puppetry traditions. Building on previous work from a 2024 U-M Creativity Lab workshop, Myers aims to develop a portable tabletop shadow puppet theatre exploring themes of birds, ecology, and cultural symbolism. The project will blend traditional and modern puppetry techniques, integrating sustainable materials and theatrical technologies like LED lighting and pico projections. Through collaboration with Indonesian artists, Myers will design and prototype a new performance piece that she hopes to present at puppetry festivals.
Zeynep Özcan
Assistant Professor of Music, Performing Arts Technology

Professor Özcan will present Customs and Borders, an experimental transducer-based interactive live performance in Istanbul, Turkey at ”Sonified: A Symposium of Sonic Practices” at Arter Contemporary Art Museum’s Karbon black box theatre during summer 2025. This work challenges the audience’s perception on social identities through playful engagement and critical reflection. Özcan plans to refine their interactive theatrical system, incorporating facial recognition and machine learning, and gather international audience feedback, evolving the work into a traveling performance by the end of the summer.
Swapnil Rai
Assistant Professor in the Department of Film, Television, and Media

Professor Rai’s project, Elective Affinities: Women’s Agency and Televisual Flows between Modi’s India and Erdogan’s Türkiye, examines how television dramas exchanged between India and Turkey, particularly those centered on women’s narratives, reflect and resist the gendered politics of rising authoritarianism in both nations. By exploring the concept of “elective affinities,” Rai theorizes how women creatives and audiences engage with transnational media that resonate emotionally and ideologically across borders. Through fieldwork in Istanbul and New Delhi—including interviews, ethnographic observation on TV sets, and archival research—Rai aims to uncover how women writers, directors, and actors navigate creative agency within state-imposed constraints. This interdisciplinary study bridges media, politics, and gender studies and will culminate in scholarly publications, a symposium, and community engagement activities.
Greta Uehling
Teaching Professor, Program in International and Comparative Studies

Professor Uehling’s research proposal explores how public art and performance in Tbilisi, Georgia, serve as a form of protest against Russian influence and pro-Russian governance. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, over 100,000 Russians have moved to Georgia, often without integrating into local culture, triggering cultural tensions. Uehling examines how Georgian citizens resist this “Russification” through street art, fireworks, body-based protest, and public expression, while also investigating how Russian immigrants negotiate their identities in this context. Using visual ethnography and autoethnography—including photography, video, and participant observation—she aims to document and analyze these cultural dynamics. Her project builds on her prior research in Ukraine and contributes to academic discussions on protest performance, identity, and cultural resistance. She plans to disseminate findings through academic conferences, publications, and public exhibits, and is well-positioned to undertake this work due to her linguistic skills, regional expertise, and extensive fieldwork experience.
Robin Wilson
Professor of Dance

Professor Wilson will attend the New Waves! Institute in Port of Spain, Trinidad as part of her ongoing research into the Africanist presence in dance and performance culture. The institute gathers Caribbean and diasporic dance artists, scholars, and educators for workshops, lectures, and performances. This immersive experience will enrich her teaching of Afro-Caribbean dance forms and deepen her engagement with Caribbean performance culture.